VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES **************** PHẠM THỊ HUYỀN TRANG A STUDY ON TEACHING CROSS-CULTURAL ELEMENTS IN ENGLISH SPEAKING CLASSES TO VIETNAMESE STUDY-MAJORED STUDENTS AT SAO DO UNIVERSITY (Nghiên cứu việc dạy các yếu tố giao văn hóa trong giờ học nói tiếng Anh cho sinh viên chuyên ngành Việt Nam học, Đại học Sao Đỏ) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.11 Hanoi - 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES **************** PHẠM THỊ HUYỀN TRANG A STUDY ON TEACHING CROSS-CULTURAL ELEMENTS IN ENGLISH SPEAKING CLASSES TO VIETNAMESE STUDY-MAJORED STUDENTS AT SAO DO UNIVERSITY (Nghiên cứu việc dạy các yếu tố giao văn hóa trong giờ học nói tiếng Anh cho sinh viên chuyên ngành Việt Nam học, Đại học Sao Đỏ) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60. Nguyễn Văn Độ Hanoi - 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I hereby certify that the thesis entitled A STUDY ON TEACHING CROSS-CULTURAL ELEMENTS IN ENGLISH SPEAKING CLASSES TO VIETNAMESE STUDY-MAJORED STUDENTS AT SAO DO UNIVERSITY is the result of my own research for the course of post-graduate education at ULIS, VNU.
I confirm that this thesis has not been submitted for any other degrees. Student’s signature Phạm Thị Huyền Trang i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In completion of this thesis, I would like to express my special thanks to my supervisor, Assoc. Nguyen Van Do (Thang Long University) for his invaluable guidance and instructive comments throughout my work. I am thankful to all the staff at the post-graduate department for giving me assistance, the teachers who conducted the Master's course for providing me with valuable knowledge.
A further acknowledgement goes to my dear friends from the master's course and colleagues for their useful ideas, materials and encouragement. I also wish to thank my students from Faculty of Tourism and Foreign languages (FTF), Sao Do University (SDU) for their valuable help. The final credit must go to my family, who supported me with love and gentle pushing. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT In recent years, many language teachers are aware of the importance of culture in educational circles.
It is important for foreign language teachers to integrate culture in their classes so as to primarily raise the awareness of their students about the differences between cultures, then help them to be culturally competent and convey communication in the society of the target language. The importance of gaining communicative competence and maintaining intercultural interaction has fostered the necessity of integrating cultural elements into language instruction. Any language acquires value and meaning when it is integrated with cultural elements, thereby learning cultures may shed a light to communication/interaction with different cultures. This paper discusses various research findings and opinions on the integration of cross-culture into the teaching of foreign language teaching.
The discussion aimed to highlight the important roles of cross-cultural elements, the problems during the education process integrating these elements into the English teaching speaking classes. Furthermore, this study aims at suggesting some practical techniques for cross-culture teaching at FTF, SDU. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DECLARATION. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………….iv ABBREVIATION - TABLE LIST…………………………………………….vi PART A: INTRODUCTION.
Aims of the study. Scope of the study. Methods of the study. Design of the study.
5 CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL PRELIMINARIES. What is culture?. What is cross-culture?. The process of communication.
Need for cross-culture teaching. Principles for cross-culture teaching. Approaches for cross-culture teaching. Practical techniques for teaching cross-culture in the EFL classroom.
14 CHAPTER II: RESEARCH DESIGN. Method and Procedure. Selection of participants. Data collection instruments.
16 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CHAPTER III: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS. Data collection from the survey questionnaires. Data collection from the quiz. Discussion of the findings.
26 CHAPTER IV: FURTHER DISCUSSIONS. Suggested framework for cross-culture teaching in English speaking class 28 4. Suggested techniques for teaching cross-culture in the EFL classroom. Limitations of the study.
Recommendations for further research. VIII v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABBREVIATION SDU: Sao Do University FTF: Faculty of Tourism and Foreign languages TABLE LIST Table 1: Ferrando‟s definition of culture Table 2: Students‟ opinion of the importance of cross-culture knowledge to English learning Table 3: Students‟ self-evaluation of their cross-cultural knowledge Table 4: Students‟ difficulties in participation in cross-culture activities in conversation class Table 5: Students‟ opinion of resources to obtain cross-cultural knowledge Table 6: Students‟ opinions of cross-culture activities to motivate them Table 7: Students‟ opinion of cross-cultural elements taught in conversation class Table 8: Test scores interpretation – Measures of central tendency Table 9: Test scores interpretation – Measures of dispersion FIGURE LIST Figure 1: Students‟ opinion of the importance of cross-culture knowledge to English learning Figure 2: Students‟ self-evaluation of their cross-cultural knowledge Figure 3: Students‟ difficulties in participation in cross-culture activities in conversation class Figure 4: Students‟ opinion of resources to obtain cross-cultural knowledge Figure 5: Students‟ opinions of cross-culture activities to motivate them Figure 6: Students‟ opinion of cross-cultural elements taught in conversation class vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale In our global world, where many people from a variety of cultures have to communicate in a way, understanding different cultures have become significantly important to convey the meaning in conversations. Therefore, culture is considered as an essential field in education, especially in language education.
It can be said that foreign/ second language learning is comprised of several components, including grammatical competence, communicative competence, language proficiency, as well as a change in attitudes towards one‟s own or another culture. As a result, in recent years, many foreign/ second language teachers have been aware of the importance of teaching the culture of the target language. Concerning this issue, Seelye (1993: 4) argues that “culture should be taught when we have students to teach”. Moreover, day after day, more language teachers recognize that when the cultural aspects are included in the language teaching curriculum, students‟ communicative competence will be improved.
It means that in one form or another, culture has, even implicitly, been taught in the foreign/ second language classroom. Kramsch‟s keen observation should not go unnoticed: Culture in language learning is not an expendable fifth skill, tacked on, so to speak, to the teaching of speaking, listening, reading, and writing. It is always in the background, right from day one, ready to unsettle the good language learners when they expect it least, making evident the limitations of their hard-won communicative competence, challenging their ability to make sense of the world around them. (Kramsch, 1993: 1) It is undeniable that culture plays an important role in language education.
Therefore, with an effort to improve the language teaching in my case, “A study on teaching cross-cultural elements in English speaking classes to Vietnamese study- majored students at Sao Do University” is chosen as the topic for my study. 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Aims of the study The aims of the thesis are: - To investigate the attitudes of students towards the roles of cross-cultural knowledge in language speaking class. - To analyze the problems facing by students in integrating cross-cultural issues in conversational activities.
- To suggest some practical methods and techniques to teach cross-cultural integrated speaking lessons. Research questions 1- What are the attitudes of students towards the roles of cross-culture in language speaking class? 2- What are the problems facing by the students in integrating cross-cultural issues in conversational activities? 3- How can the teachers integrate cross-cultural elements in English speaking classes? 4. Scope of the study With the globalization, it has became significantly important for language teachers to integrate culture in their classes so as to primarily raise the awareness of their students about the differences between cultures, then help them to be culturally competent and convey communication in the society of the target language. In an attempt to improve the situation of teaching English speaking skill for students of Vietnamese-study major, SDU, the researcher emphasized the methods and techniques of integrating cross-cultural elements into the speaking classes.
The issues to be discussed are the most common and typical ones which are being concerned by most teachers in English teaching. The attitudes of students who are at intermediate level towards the roles of cross-culture in language speaking class are investigated. In addition, the problems that the students face in studying cross-culture in class are analyzed along with the cultural aspects in language 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. The most important issue is the discussion of methods and techniques for assisting cross-cultural teaching.
Methods of the study In order to achieve the aims stated, an action research is carried out which employs qualitative methods as main methodologies. All the considerations and conclusions are largely based on the analysis of the statistic data and references. The major approaches are: - Survey questionnaires - Semi-structured interviews - Consultations with supervisor - Personal observations 6. Design of the study The thesis consists of three parts: Part A: INTRODUCTION This part includes the rationale, aims, scope of the study, methods and design of the study.
Part B: DEVELOPMENT This part is divided into three chapters Chapter I: THEORETICAL PRELIMINARIES In this chapter, theories of culture, cross-culture, process of communication, need for cross-culture teaching, and principles for cross-culture teaching are critically discussed. Chapter II: RESEARCH DESIGN In this chapter, the context as well as the method and procedure of the study are clearly indicated. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Chapter III: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS The data analysis and findings are also presented with the illustration of data. The problems related to teaching cross-cultural elements in language speaking class are clarified from detailed and critical analysis of data.
Chapter IV: FURTHER DISCUSSIONS Based on the results of the study, some methods and techniques that are suitable for the chosen context will be suggested. They are expected to be helpful to improve the situation of teaching cross-culture in speaking class. Part C: CONCLUSION Summary of the major findings and suggestions for further research are presented in this part. 4 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL PRELIMINARIES 1.
What is culture? Culture is often thought of as shared behavior and beliefs, but in any society, even the simplest one, all individuals never think and act exactly the same. Different authors have different definitions of culture. In the first place, UNESCO (1996:108) launches the formal definition focusing on the character of culture as follows „Culture is a set of symbolic systems which regulate the behaviour and enable the mutual communication of a plurality of people, establishing them into particular and instinct community.‟ According to Block (2001), “Culture, in its broadest sense, is what makes you a stranger when you are away from home. It includes all beliefs and expectations about how people should speak and act which have become a kind of second nature to you as a result of social learning.
When you are with members of a group who share your culture, we or you do not have to think about it, for you are all viewing the world in pretty much the same way and you all know, in general terms, what to expect of one another”. Ferrando (1996:18) considers Culture according to the nature of human beings‟ possession, perception and action: Culture is everything that one has, thinks, and does as a member of a society. Table 1: Ferrando’s definition of culture Possession Realization Perception CULTURE 5 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.